1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to medical devices, and more particularly to devices that are designed to provide support to a person's limb when it is necessary to elevate the limb for purposes of medical treatment.
2. Related Art
It is sometimes helpful in the treatment of medical conditions to elevate a person's limb (e.g., an arm or a leg). For instance, a person may suffer a broken bone or may have surgery that involves one of his limbs. It may aid in the person's recovery to elevate the affected limb in order to reduce the blood pressure in the limb or to improve circulation in the limb. There is also an increasing percentage of the population that suffers from circulatory conditions that are treated in large part by elevating the limbs whenever possible.
A number of specialized devices are available in medical treatment facilities to elevate a person's limbs. There are far fewer devices that are available outside medical treatment facilities. If a person is at home, he will typically elevate his arm or leg by positioning it on top of whatever is available. For example, when sitting in a chair, there may be an ottoman on which the leg can be rested. Alternatively, the leg can be placed on a coffee table or another chair, or the person can rest his leg on a couch.
Various specialized devices have been proposed for allowing a person to elevate an arm or leg. For instance, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,000,168 and 6,026,812 to Lipson disclose supports that can be used for arms or legs. These supports have various means for adjusting the height and angle at which the limb is supported, but the devices are very bulky and not easily transportable.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,696,826 to Gruzalski discloses a leg supporting device that is designed to be attached to a leg cast, and can be swiveled from a first position in which it is essentially parallel to the cast to a second position in which it extends perpendicular to the cast, allowing the cast to be supported above the floor. While this device is relatively easy to transport when the user is outside the home, it has very little adjustability as to the height at which the cast is supported, and is not conveniently used with an arm cast. Further, this device is not suitable for supporting a limb that is not in cast. U.S. Pat. No. 6,712,781 to Sheppard discloses a leg support similar to that of Gruzalski. This device is strapped to a leg or leg cast, and a telescoping support can be moved between positions that are perpendicular and parallel to the leg.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,732,269 to Astroff discloses an arm and leg support device that has a pivoting, U-shaped brace for supporting the arm or leg, an adjustable telescopic leg, and a folding base. Although this device can be folded, it is still rather bulky, and not particularly convenient to transport. Further, the U-shaped brace has little adjustability, and the height adjustment, which uses a thumbscrew to hold one piece of the telescoping leg inside the other, is not very secure.
Despite the fact that elevation of limbs is widely recommended, and even prescribed, for the treatment of various medical conditions, few of the devices described above are commonly used. This may be the result of many different factors, such as the cost of these devices, the inconvenience of using the devices because of their weight and/or bulkiness and the limited adjustability of the devices. There is therefore still a need for a lightweight, low-cost limb support for both arms and legs that is conveniently transportable and highly adjustable.